CORAOPOLIS, Pennsylvania — In a wide-ranging interview, former Vice President Mike Pence, ahead of his second grassroots event of the day for a Republican candidate in the Keystone State, discussed the importance of party building, how Republicans can hold the majority for longer than two cycles if they do win, how he’d vote for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) 15-week abortion ban, and what the status is on his decision to run for president in 2024.
The former congressman and Indiana governor was here in this Allegheny County suburb in support of Jeremy Shaffer, the Republican candidate seeking to flip the congressional seat held by Democrat Conor Lamb, who declined to seek a third term while making an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for Senate.
Earlier in the day, he was with Rep. Dan Mueser (R-PA), who represents the 9th Congressional District, at Isabella’s Restaurant in Plains Township. Pence began the interview by explaining why district races like these help build the overall party’s infrastructure and influence in policy and culture.
Examiner: Is a strong national party only as strong as it is on the most local elected positions? Explain why you are doing these events for smaller races?
Mike Pence: My team tells me that we’ve been in some 37 states across the country. And we’ll continue to travel next week to Virginia and North Carolina and Georgia. But we’ve been trying to evenly divide our time between House candidates, Senate candidates, and governors. Because I’m strongly of the opinion that while there’s always certain races that are marquee races, and we’ve campaigned with a number of those men and women, it’s the opportunity to come alongside candidates that are running for the House of Representatives.
The opportunity to do party events and the opportunity to support Republican candidates for governor around the country is all part of the equation for how we win back, not just majorities, but really win the future for Republican values.
When I look at those first two years of the Trump-Pence administration, it was the combination of majorities in the House, in the Senate, and nearly 30 governors across the country that made it possible for us to make the enormous strides that we made in national security, border security, economic growth, and defending liberties in the courts of the country. So to me, it really is an all-of-the-above strategy for making sure that we are building a team. Because when people talk about winning back America in 2024, it all begins with winning back House, the Senate, and winning back statehouses around the country.
REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO WIN SENATE FOR FIRST TIME IN MIDTERM ELECTIONS BY TOP FORECASTER
Examiner: As a former governor, how important is it to win state legislative races at the most granular level to get policies done?
Mike Pence: Well, the other part of it, too, is in the battle of ideas. We formed our foundation really with the express purpose of wanting to articulate the ideas that have animated the conservative movement from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. And we’ve been equipping grassroots Americans and equipping candidates and officeholders with what we call the “Freedom Agenda” that we unveiled this last spring. I spoke about [it] again in Washington last week. Because while personalities are always important in politics and it always is the preoccupation of many in the media who the personalities are, I maintain that the movement that I’ve been a part of since I signed up for the “Reagan Revolution” and joined the Republican Party has been the ideas of a strong national defense, less government, less taxes, traditional values.
During the Trump-Pence administration, we added to that — the notion that border security is national security, that China represents the greatest threat to our prosperity and security in the 21st century, and that trade should not only be free but also should be fair and put American workers first. The combination of those, I think, is what is going to continue to drive us to a victory on Nov. 8. And I think it’s ultimately how we win back America in 2024.
Examiner: If the Republicans are lucky enough to win, what is your advice to them in terms of not get their head filled with thinking everybody loves them and instead listen to why people sent them there? We continue having these wave election cycles where a party gains power and Washington keeps misreading why they were given that opportunity.
Mike Pence: Midterm elections are always a referendum on the party in power in the White House to one degree or another. What Republicans have an opportunity to do after 2022 is consolidate our gains by advancing a conservative agenda that’s going to resonate with people across this country who see the socialist agenda of the Biden-Harris administration, who see the radical Left politics that have overtaken the House and Senate under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and want to see us go back in the direction that the Trump administration charted, of a strong defense, a strong and unwavering commitment to America’s role in the world, to less government, less taxes, more American energy, more free and fair trade, and conservatives on our courts that’ll respect our values and our liberties, I think. But Republicans need to advance those policies.
When I was in the Congress, we used to have a saying that you can’t beat a program without a program. And I really do believe that it will be important for new Republican majorities to be the loyal opposition, to challenge what the Biden-Harris administration’s attempting to do, and to be a break on that for the next two years.
I also think holding the administration accountable when we have majorities in the House and Senate, the oversight role. The Congress has never been more important, particularly with regard to many of these federal agencies that are going far beyond what the legislative intent and far beyond the expectations of the American people.
But beyond that, I think it’s going to be imperative for Republicans on one issue after another, taking on inflation at a 40-year high, taking on a self-made energy crisis and the war on energy. I mean taking on the challenges of a crime wave, taking on the worst border crisis in the history of this country, and putting policies on President Biden’s desk irrespective of whether or not he’s going to sign or veto the bills. Produce literally, and maybe at a pace that we haven’t seen in recent memory, produce results that [are] put on the president’s desk. There’s some outside chance that a few of the things he may sign. But at minimum, what we will do in those two years is show the American people what Republican majorities are prepared to do once they have a partner in the White House.
Examiner: On abortion, Republicans have always argued that Roe v. Wade should have been something that was decided by states. Your thoughts?
Mike Pence: Question of abortion was governed at the state level prior to Roe v. Wade, and in one fell swoop, Justice [Harry] Blackmun overturned pro-life laws in states across the country. And it’s remarkable to me that even the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg reflected that it was a precedent that was difficult to defend.
All of that being said — you know me, I’m pro-life. I don’t apologize for it. I always believed that the day would come that we would send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs. And I couldn’t be more grateful or more proud to have been part of an administration that appointed three out of the five justices that gave the American people a new beginning for life. That being said, now I think the battle for life has gone to every state in the union.
My own state, Indiana, passed strong pro-life legislation. States around the country are stepping forward. And I think you’re going to see progress in many states around the country, and you’re going to see a debate in every state.
I will say though that were I am a member of Congress today, I would certainly vote for Sen. Graham’s 15-week ban. I’m pro-life. I want to see the cause of life advanced at every level. And I think Sen. Graham did a great service by offering legislation that really is consistent with the majority, nearly all Western countries around the world.
And it really laid bare the extreme position of abortion on demand all the way up to the moment of birth, which is the position of the Democratic Party today in America. And so for me, engaging in the debate for life at every level in all 50 states in the well of the Congress, I welcome, because I truly do believe that the destiny of the country is tied up in the cause of life. And as long as I’m still on this Earth, I’m going to be continuing to work and to pray for the day that we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in America.
Examiner: How many times a day are you asked if you’re running for president?
Mike Pence: It’s very humbling to me every time I’m asked, and I always tell people the same thing. I tell them, “I’ll keep you posted,” when they say, “Are you running?”
And I’ll tell you: I honestly think that given the historic opportunity that we have in 2022 that it’s incumbent on all of us to remain entirely focused on ensuring that those men and women running for seats in the Congress, in the Senate, in statehouses around America, have the support that they need to be able to deliver a victory for the American people. Once that’s done, Karen and I are going to take some time over the holidays, spend time with our family. They’ll be together because of military deployments for the first time in three years.
I can tell you we’ll sit down with our family just as we have every major decision. We’ll reflect, we’ll pray, and we’ll go where we’re called.
The only thing we’ve decided for sure is we won’t let anybody else make that decision for us. I was told many years ago: There’s two kinds of people in politics — people that are driven and people that are called, and I’ve been both. But for us, for the balance of any public life, for us, we’ll go where we’re called.
I think it’s a time in the life of the nation when all of us need to find a place to do our part. I mean, in so many ways, America is in crisis. It seems like we have an administration in Washington, D.C., that is intent on weakening this country at home and abroad and departing from our most cherished values.
So we’ll search our hearts and reflect in faith about where we might contribute in the days ahead. And I promise to keep you posted.
